Chapter 70
On the other side, Zhou Xinyi was swimming forward with great enthusiasm, not forgetting to urge Xiang Wan behind her:
"Sister Xiang Wan, hurry up—"
However, no one answered her. When she turned around, she found the sea behind her eerily calm, without a single ripple, as if she were the only person in this vast ocean from beginning to end.
"Sister Xiang Wan..."
Just as Zhou Xinyi broke out in a cold sweat, she saw bubbles rising from the sea not far away.
She glanced quickly back at the cargo ship that was about to leave, and without much hesitation, plunged into the water and swam toward the bubbling water.
Zhou Xinyi swam very fast and grabbed Xiang Wan, who was falling continuously, on the seabed. She then pulled her towards the surface by holding her waist.
But whether it was from choking on water or losing consciousness, Xiang Wan's body was limp as if she were already dead.
"Sister Xiang Wan—"
"Xiang Wan—"
"Xiang Shuhan—"
…
Zhou Xinyi called her name over and over again, as if that would bring her soul back.
However, Xiang Wan's situation was not good at all. Although she did not resist, she also did not cooperate at all.
She was like a giant doll that could be manipulated at will. Zhou Xinyi had to support her while maintaining her own balance, which led to her being dragged down by Xiang Wan and choking on seawater several times.
However, what completely broke Zhou Xinyi was not her burden, nor the departure of the cargo ship that was her only lifeline, but the feeling that Xiang Wan was dead.
It seemed as if she was the only one left in this vast ocean.
Looking out over the deep blue and dark sea, Zhou Xinyi clung tightly to Xiang Wan's body, breaking down in tears. But no matter how loudly she cried, she received no response.
The sea, like a colossal creature falling into slumber, was slowly swallowing the two of them.
An overwhelming loneliness washed over Zhou Xinyi, leaving her utterly defeated. She clung to Xiang Wan's body as if she were clutching a lifeline.
She didn't know if she would have survived if she had fallen into the sea alone, but now that Xiang Wan was dead, she felt she probably wouldn't have survived either.
Her eyes were blank as she stared at the seemingly man-eating sea in the darkness, as if she could already see her own end. Zhou Xinyi, clutching Xiang Wan's corpse, gradually calmed down.
After a long time, Zhou Xinyi took one last look at Xiang Wan's pale face and murmured, "Sister Xiang Wan, I can't live alone anyway. Let's die together in the sea, at least we'll have each other's company."
She stopped struggling and exerting force, letting herself and Xiang Wan's bodies gradually sink into the sea.
Under the sea, Zhou Xinyi looked at the dark surface of the sea, unable to distinguish whether it was tears or seawater, only feeling a slight soreness in her eyes.
Because she was afraid of dying alone, or perhaps out of fear of death itself, she still clung to Xiang Wan's body.
As they fell deeper and deeper, her lungs felt suffocated from not being able to breathe. Fortunately, Zhou Xinyi had always been good at enduring hardship. She endured the discomfort, but just as she was about to close her eyes and wait for death, she felt her hand being gently pinched.
Zhou Xinyi opened her eyes and met Xiang Wan's eyes. Her hair was as thick as a waterfall in the sea, and her bright features were so striking even in the low visibility of the ocean.
While she was still in a daze, she saw Xiang Wan open her eyes, shake her head at her, and then, as if she had completely lost her breath, gently lean her body against her shoulder.
Zhou Xinyi almost instinctively began to breathe into Xiang Wan, and when she realized that Xiang Wan was still alive, her eyes visibly lit up, and she pulled her upwards with all her might.
However, falling is easy, but swimming back up is incredibly long.
She felt like her lungs were about to explode. When the two of them finally surfaced, Zhou Xinyi hadn't had time to catch her breath before she hurriedly reached under Xiang Wan's nose with her finger.
Although her breathing was very weak, she was still breathing.
Realizing that her recklessness might have killed two people, Zhou Xinyi was filled with lingering fear.
The sea was still the same, but whether it was because she had died once or because she knew her companions were still alive, her mindset had completely changed.
Under the moonlight, she held the unconscious Xiang Wan and swam hard in one direction. When she got tired, she would rest in the sea for a while, and when she had rested enough, she would continue swimming, just like when she played in the river in Lijia Village in the summer when she was a child.
As night changes and the sun rises, it marks another day filled with hope.
On the azure sea, Zhou Xinyi, holding Xiang Wan's hand, leisurely watched the sunrise. After the sunrise ended, she dragged Xiang Wan along and continued swimming eastward...
On the other side, Xiang Wan's body fell into a coma, but her soul returned to her previous life once again.
The truths she hadn't seen in her previous life, as well as the seemingly insignificant details, were all experienced again from an outsider's perspective...
*
Xiang Wan first felt a sharp pain in her lungs from the pressure, and when she opened her eyes wide, she saw Zhou Xinyi seemingly wanting to commit suicide.
She pinched her with all her might until she saw her swim back to the surface of the sea, then she could no longer hold on and let herself fall into a coma.
Just like the day she had her heart attack in her previous life, she could feel her soul seemingly leaving her body and drifting to another place.
A blinding white light appeared, and she instinctively shielded her eyes with her elbow. However, when the light faded and she opened her eyes again, she found herself seemingly in…
Lijia Village?
Surrounded by continuous mountain ranges and pine and cypress trees, where else could this be but Lijia Village in Xinbei Town?
Xiang Wan looked down at her somewhat transparent hands, guessing that, just like when she dreamed of her past life last time, no one could see her.
'Could this be the legendary astral projection?' she murmured, feeling puzzled—why had her soul returned to Li Family Village?
Among the places she disliked the most, Lijia Village in Xinbei Town definitely ranks high, and should even be in the top three.
Just as she was still wondering about fate's arrangement, a car speeding past her seemed to tell her the answer.
On the dirt road, a luxury car drove by, kicking up a cloud of dust. Xiang Wan looked at the familiar license plate number, but fell into deep thought.
If she remembered correctly, this car seemed to be the one that used to take her to and from school when she was in junior high. Although the car had been replaced by another one when she graduated from junior high, she still had a very deep memory of this car.
Because when she was 12 years old, she was on this bus heading to Xinbei Town when it broke down on the way.
'It can't be...'
Xiang Wan only had a rough guess in her mind until she watched helplessly as the car broke down right in front of her...
Her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally died. She held her forehead and suddenly had a strong urge to smoke a cigarette.
She slowly walked to the car, looked at her 12-year-old self inside, and smiled with a hint of helplessness.
With just one glance, she recognized the person in the car as her real 12-year-old self, not the reborn version of herself.
Xiang Wan leaned against the car, watching Wang Yidong and Uncle Zhang leave for the village, leaving her alone in the car. She waved tentatively, making sure her 12-year-old self couldn't see her.
After a long time, she got bored and stood by the stream, watching the ants passing by. When a ripple appeared on the water, she followed the ripple and saw another old friend—Green Hair.
"..."
Xiang Wan didn't know what to say. She remembered that she was still afraid of geese at this time. She seemed to have forgotten that others couldn't see her. She rushed forward to scare away the green-haired goose, but unexpectedly met those eyes that were the size of mung beans.
"..."
Realizing that the green-haired creature could see her, she was startled and forgot that she was supposed to scare it, freezing in place.
'Is it because of animals that I can see her?' Just as she was wondering, Green Hair was so frightened that he ran in her direction.
Before Xiang Wan could react, she discovered that her 12-year-old self had gotten out of the car at some point and was running towards the stream, frightened by the green hair.
It wasn't until the younger version of herself screamed repeatedly that she came to her senses and ran after her. Originally, her intention was to protect her 12-year-old self, but for some reason, the green-haired girl also ran after them.
When she was little, she couldn't see her; all she could see was green hair. Naturally, she was always scared and ran forward. However, as she ran, she would occasionally look back to see if green hair was following her.
The mountain road was already rugged, and it was slippery in winter. She was distracted and looked back, and stepped into the pond, falling into the mud on the side.
Seeing her younger self fall down, Xiang Wan turned around and glanced at the green-haired creature. Only after the green-haired creature awkwardly flapped its wings and left did her attention shift to her younger self.
She tried to comfort herself and stop crying, but she couldn't see her, and Xiang Wan felt somewhat helpless.
In the sub-zero winter, her shoes and socks were soaked; the wet, cold snow boots were even colder on her feet than if she weren't wearing any. Xiang Wan looked at herself with a pang of heartache, but there was nothing she could do but feel sorry for herself.
Until a small hand reached out from behind, both the big and the little looked at the owner of that hand.
—It was 10-year-old Chen Yan.
He was wearing a pink cotton-padded jacket, and he was thin and small. The jacket didn't look very good on him; it was probably a piece of clothing that someone in the village had picked up and didn't want.
Even the collar of the shirt underneath, though it was supposed to be light blue, had turned somewhat whitish, probably from being starched and washed several times.
The two people, one big and one small, were both looking at him. One was out of curiosity, while the other was looking at someone else through him.
Chen Yan looked down at the girl in front of him who was crying uncontrollably after falling into the pond, and handed her his cotton shoes: "Don't cry, here are my cotton shoes."
These were his only pair of cotton shoes, and he was actually quite reluctant to give them away. However, even though he was far away, he had seen that it was Green Hair who had scared the person to tears.
Despite the sub-zero temperatures, he walked barefoot on the muddy ground, yet handed her his cotton shoes.
Across from him, 12-year-old Xiang Wan stopped crying and looked at him curiously: "My name is Xiang Wan, what's your name?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Yan did not reveal his name, but gently placed the cotton shoes in front of her, then turned to leave.
Seeing that he was about to leave, 12-year-old Xiang Wan didn't stop him, but waved to his back and said, "Goodbye, little sister!"
22-year-old Xiang Wan: "..."
Hearing her call him "sister," Chen Yan paused, turned back and gave her a resentful look, but said nothing and walked away.
Behind her, Xiang Wan glanced at herself changing her cotton shoes, then at Chen Yan's footprints in the mud not far away.
He must be cold. She originally decided to sponsor Lijia Village because of her pair of cotton shoes, but by a twist of fate, she ended up sponsoring Zhou Chengze and his sister.
Next, everything was just like her memories from her previous life. Wang Yidong took her to the village chief's house to stay for a day.
Compared to Chen Yan's drafty walls, the village chief Li Shengde's house was much better, yet Xiang Wan felt a pang of sympathy for Chen Yan's impoverished childhood.
On the other side, after parting ways with Xiang Wan, Chen Yan did not go home immediately, but instead went to the forest to pick some herbs before returning.
When he returned to his house and yard, he changed into a pair of single shoes because he was afraid his mother-in-law would see that he was barefoot before going to her room.
He called for a long time but no one answered, so he lifted the curtain to apply medicine to his mother-in-law. However, as soon as he entered the room, he saw his mother-in-law lying on the ground.
Chen Yan panicked completely, and the medicine bowl in his hand was dropped and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
"Mother-in-law—"
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